Start-ups are moving so fast that even paralysis in Washington won't get in their way.

Alan Patricof

Said : Alan Patricof, founder and managing director of Greycroft Partners as reported in Lydia DePillis's post in today's Washingtonpost. Alan is a longtime innovator and advocate for venture capital with more than 40 years of experience in this field.

Lydia, in her post, discusses "Why Silicon Valley has been silent on the shutdown" in spite of the fact that "Lobby shops for companies like Google and Facebook have ballooned, campaign contributions have started to flow, new organizations have formed, and high-profile advocacy campaigns have made headlines across the country."

Vivek Wadhwa writes in Washington Post that most of "Silicon Valley’s inhabitants aren't experiencing the misery that furloughed government employees are. But the Valley seems totally oblivious to what is happening in the nation’s capital." He noticed that the Valley’s “don’t care” attitude about government is strikingly visible.

The Valley’s "what, me worry?" attitude largely emanates from the fact that companies in the tech world are mostly funded by venture capitalists and angel investors and not by banks. Banks are much more cautious and their lending behaviors change with the prevailing macroeconomic conditions whereas VCs and angel investors enjoy much more freedom with their cash and are generally more liberal and willing to fund exciting new tech companies.

Vivek Wadhwa

Lydia DePilli

Wadhwa's observation that the Valley seems to have shrugged off the shutdown crisis entirely is, therefore, in sync with the Valley's ground realities. Alan's comment - in Lydia's post - quite appropriately describes this reality. "Frankly the start-up wave that's going on in this country is inexorable; nothing seems to be able to stop it. And most of our companies are at such an early high growth stage, they're growing 30, 40, 50 percent a year, so they're relatively isolated (from the D.C. impasse)."

Joe Green

However, there are people who feel that there is a need to create a voice for the knowledge community as America is already a major player and enjoys leadership position in the knowledge-based industry. They want this for the future and not for the short-term selfish motives. They are quite sure that an organized knowledge community in America can have a very powerful voice that can significantly influence politics, and hence, policy making. 

Facebook-affiliated FWD.us' director Joe Green - Mark Zuckerberg's Harvard roommate - is one such person, according to Lydia who feels that this (shutdown) is one of those times when such a voice could have an impact. FWD.us is an advocacy organization created to promote policies that will lead to a more advanced workforce and stronger knowledge economy in the U.S. The organization is backed by a diverse group of leading innovators, job creators, business owners and founders from Silicon Valley’s tech sector.